No Sprain, No Gain

Heather went roller skating today with Rye-Bread, T-Bird, Eddie Joe and The Big Fella.  It was an afternoon with lots of moms and lots of kids on roller skates.  If you are beginning to sense some foreshadowing of the title of this post and the mention of moms on roller skates, you are very astute.

But, before I expound fully on the roller skating story, I need to actually begin with what happened last night.

I coach basketball with a friend of mine named Scott and we had a game last night.  We both have boys on this 7th and 8th grade boys basketball team.  Together we have coached our boys since they were in the 1st and 2nd grade.  We have been solely responsible for honing their solid basketball skills.  There is no question that their basketball success has come because of our coaching excellence.  We are always quick to remind each other that it's all about the coaches and it's important that he and I dunk a lot on 7' baskets during practice.  I'm digressing, aren't I.

Anyway, during the game last night, we were attempting to run a zone defense in the 1st half.  We were getting killed by the three point shot and were down 20-16 at halftime.  During Scott's impassioned halftime speech, I received a text.  Surprised, I checked my phone a found a text that said, "zone defense isn't seeming to work....can't cover #21."  The text was from Heather.  She's texting me with adjustments that she thinks we should be making during halftime???  Huh??  Do we look like we need coaching help??

We switched to man-to-man defense in the second half and held them to 3 points the entire half.  We ended up winning 39-23.  For the record, the decision to switch to man-to-man was had nothing to do with the text that was received.  It was solely the decision of the coaches and we take full credit for it.  It's all about the coaches.

Now, back to the roller skating story.  During something that is called the "triple skate," Heather was apparently skating with Eddie Joe and The Big Fella.  At some point, Eddie Joe began to fall.  As he was going down, he dragged Heather and The Big Fella down.  Heather and The Big Fella slammed heads, Heather tried to break her fall with her wrist, and then her wrist was run over by the Big Fella's roller skates.  They literally cleared the roller rink floor because of the injured person.  Heather had seriously injured her wrist and was in a lot of pain.  Sherri hurriedly took Heather to the doctor while Sandy took the rest of the kids home.

[As a side note, this story is eerily similar to the Crockpot incident where Heather gashed her wrists while falling on a Crockpot in the church parking lot and was hurried to the emergency room with Sherri and Pat each holding a bleeding wrist while I drove madly hitting every red light possible.  You can be entertained by that story from last April by clicking on the story:  No, She Just Fell On Her Crockpot]

So Heather was taken to the doctor and I hurriedly left work to meet them there.  It was cool because Sherri's husband Scott (yes, the other basketball coach from last night) just happened to be at the doctor's office to get some of his shots for his trip to Ethiopia this May with Look Development.  So we had a lot of laughs together about Heather's predicament and tried to keep things light.

They took a few x-rays of her wrist and then the doctor came in to meet with us.  After looking at the x-ray some more, he decided to go and consult some other doctors.  When he came back in, he said he had consulted with three other doctors and of the four of them (including himself in that number), three of them agreed that it was only a sprain, the fourth was undecided.  I felt like I was in a Trident gum commercial where 3 out of 4 dentists recommend it.

Since it was just a sprain, they gave her a splint and told her to take Advil, keep ice on it, and keep it elevated.  Oh, and that when she does the dishes, she should take her splint off (yes, he really said that).

So, in the end, I'm wondering if the skating injury had anything to do with the text she sent last night?  Is it possible that Scott (the other coach) and I enlisted Tanya Harding to "take care of" the skating mom?  I don't know.  I'm not saying.  The art of coaching should never be interfered with.

On a serious note, I am thankful that she's OK and that it wasn't more serious.  I'm glad that it wasn't broken so she doesn't have to have a cast on for our trip to Ethiopia.  I'm thankful that it should heal within a week or so and that the pain isn't more severe for her than it is.

[As a follow-up note:  Heather read this post and I assumed she would be touched by the last paragraph.  However, when she read it, her comment was, "you're glad that I won't have a cast when we go to Ethiopia because you were concerned that I would slow you down in the airport, right??"  Well, if you've ever seen me in the airport you would understand her comment.  In fact it's rare that Heather ever sees me in the airport because I am often about 12 gates ahead of her sprinting to the next gate.  Something I definitely need to work on before we attempt international travel together!]